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Goonhammer Interviews the Top 3 Players from Nacional de Valencia in Spain!
From this week's overall win rates, we see some of the top 3’s impact into the weekly numbers. With the Chaos Cults, and Fellgor performing particularly well. However mixed teams like Blooded and Hand of the Archon are also doing well globally. Meanwhile in Spain, 56 players lined up for a 4 round tournament into a top 8 bracket cut. A different format that I’m hoping led to players getting to spectate some of the best players in the world.
We can see that Spain is no stranger to the global Waaagh, though these eight players did not convert as well as others have. Whether that is due to the terrain, or Spanish players having finding a chink in the Ork armor, remains to be seen. The big story here is the 50% conversion rate of the Fellgor players into the top 8 at this tournament.
The top 8 definitely seems pretty diverse outside of the fellgor problem. With the global 64% win rate of the Fellgor this weekend, it seems Spain was a big fan! With many of the Spanish players helping to juice those numbers. Blades of Khaine see their only player this weekend with a winning record, working overtime to get the team to its 41% win rate!
In what is seeming to be a trend, Xavier has hit the top 3 of this stacked event, with the ever reliable Novitiates. His 6-2 record saw him only losing to Fellgor, and burning down the rest of his opponents throughout the weekend. With so many lines of attack, let's catch up and see what advice he has for his fellow trainees.
Xavier G - 3rd Place, Novitiates, Torrecollons
Xavier with his team!Congrats on third place. It seems that Fellgor was your kryptonite this weekend! What about their play style stopped the Novitiates and how do you think you’ll adjust in future matches?
- I think that Fellgor are one of the worst rivals that you can face, it is very difficult to kill them and it is easy to lose your miniatures against them, if they can cover themselves well in heavy coverage it becomes almost impossible. In my future confrontations I think I should have much more control over the whip goat, given that against ace it is the one that made me lose the game.
- I think you need both things to be able to win your games, the most important thing is to play with the fact that you usually have more shooting or charging threats than your rivals, in addition to saving your faith to change dice and not for Blinding Faith.
- The luck of this faction is that you can "cheat" and greatly reduce your luck in that roll. I don't think I have ever been in such a situation in my games.
- I would love to go to WCW, if the opportunity arises I would not hesitate to go.
- Encourage everyone to play and also to register for tournaments since we have a great community and you end up enjoying a pleasant time whether you win or lose.
Alberto "Java" - 2nd Place, Chaos Cults, KTAlifornia
Congrats on second Java! It seems that melee teams have yet to weaken, with the 5 of the top 8 being mostly melee-centric teams. Is that a regional thing, or do you think the meta remains melee focused?
- Hello!!! "HAPPYRACCON" thank you for inviting me to this interview. Melee-centric teams continue to be very strong in all regions, although it is true that they are also the most difficult to manage, because they do not allow errors. Those first turns can be very spooky to learn through.
Demagogue credit:@liver.eating.johnsonYou’ve been on Chaos cults for a while now, have the nerfs affected how you approach match ups? Or are the same Horned mutations and Malefic Vortex tricks continuing to do the heavy lifting?
- They are still just as lethal charging with the horned and the Malefic Vortex chip remains useful. Devotees are weaker and good rivals don't let you get bring the mutants up so easily because they know that they don't fully heal. The opponent can now charge devotees safely, because you cannot mutate without an incapacitation. So opposing charges into devotees are more or less safe in combat. You need to discover newer ways to get your dangerous operatives into range.
Torment credit:@liver.eating.johnsonHow much longer are you expecting to play Chaos cults? Are there any other teams you’re looking forward to trying out?
- I'm already trying other factions like Exaction Squad and Veteran Guard and it won't be long before I'm seen with them in tournaments
- I would be lying to you if I told you that I am not preparing for WCW. But I also like to enjoy the community and travel, it is being difficult to travel to so many important events with how fast KT is growing
- Right now "bheta decima" is not prepared for a competitive format, the terrain needs to be perfected
Mindwitch credit:@liver.eating.johnsonAny last shout outs to players, supporters, or game stores that help support you?
- I want to thank "Adan" better known as @liver.eating.johnson on Instagram, who makes any Kill team really enjoy playing, thanks to his art painting them
Fernando Marcos "Ace” - 1st Place, Fellgor Ravagers, MRQ3
Well done on securing first for your mighty Fellgors! It seems that you’re in good company with Orion and many other Fellgor players around the world. Do you think that Fellgor are too strong, or players have yet to adapt to their playstyle?
- I think players have to adapt to a very peculiar style when facing Fellgor, but I also think they are incredibly strong, especially at some competitive tables where there is an excess of heavy terrain and of course in ITD.
- There are many factions that have several options against them, the base is to shoot and shoot, I also think you have to play a bit counter intuitive, you have to stay away from points while shooting and try to give as few bridges as possible to the enemy. Any other faction that cancels re-rolls, think Hunter Clade or Exaction Squad, also do quite a bit of damage to them.
- Of course one of my main goals is to keep growing the Spanish scene, on the other hand it has been a fortune to stay in the top for 2 years in a row, this last year has also been a great season and I am very proud to have fought until the end, with more competitive players and with the scenes of countries much larger than Spain growing it will be practically impossible to repeat the goal, of course we will give our best to try, and who knows maybe this year we can compete in Las Vegas.
- Above all, perfecting positioning when charging and establishing bridging charges, for the rest of the turns, losing the fear of advancing to take positions. On the other hand, I play the Fellgor a bit more defensive than other teammates, sometimes even taking Recon (in some ITD maps), so more than adapting my style to them, I have made them mine and I try to adapt them to my way of playing.
- I've found my motivation with the game by trying new factions, I'm really looking forward to explore what beta Decima brings us, however it's been difficult to find tables in our tournaments due to the lack of production. And above all I'm looking forward to Mandrakes, which have been one of my favorite factions ever
- Hopefully soon, I've been pretty busy these past few months, but fortunately it should be over soon, not only that, but there are plans to do something new on the horizon, so stay tuned!
